Technology N9ne
In the game, Tech N9ne has over 30 years of achievements in the game reflecting on his new album 5816 Forest and his outstanding career.
Interview: Peter A. Berry
Editor’s Note: This story appears in the 2025 summer XXL magazine, now on newsstands and is for sale on the XXL website.
The album is called 5816 Forest. 5816 Forest is the address where my mother married a Muslim named Abul Hassan Khalifa. When I was 12, he moved us to the 5816 forest. On the album, I’m talking about all the stories that happened when I lived in that place. I call this album an audio series of 17 episodes and tells my life in the forest of 5816, aged 12 to 17, my age was something I escaped at home in search of becoming a Tech N9ne.
I had no intention of making an album of this type at all. That’s my old friend. He was just released from prison a few years ago. He was the one who named me in 1988. His name is Black Walt, and sometime last year he told me, “Hey man, real Tech N9ne fans don’t want to hear all the collaborations you’re doing, man. We want to hear all the albums you rap.” I thought, “It’s boring because f**k.” The next day, I told my partner Travis O’Guin, what Black Walt said, and Travis said, “Tech, he’s right.”
So when I came up with the title 5816 Forest, I said, I will tell these stories that happen in these stories. You can hear my kids talking to me throughout the album. Just a natural conversation. In the third verse of “J6”, I talk about winning the rap contest. The first thing I’ve ever won was the rap contest in ’91. I only have luck [Jordan 6’s]that’s my name. That was drought. At that time, I was selling paint for relatives and the story came. This is a special album.
5816 Forest is special to me. Just like one of the main elements of hip-hop I was able to break into: storytelling. I did a great job. This is a special album later in my career. I’ve done it. If you ask LeBron [James] What made him play, he would say he liked the game. We have already got the money. I’m a multimillionaire. I’ve been there for a while. I’m still excited about the paint pounding. When I hear about 2 Chainz and Larry June’s Alchemist. I’m still a hip-hop lover.
I am a dancer. Before I started writing since ’85, I was a reveler of the popular locks. I wrote the first rhyme for seventh grade. So, like, I’ve been a student ever since. I’m still learning. I still get my thumbs on the pulse of hip hop. I’m bigger than hip hop. I am 54 years old this year. By the end of my career, I hope people remember that I gave it all, and I did it.
I do music with people from all kinds of genres, from playing with Gary Clark Jr., R&B with Marsha Ambrosius or R&B and Boyz II Men. On the metal side, I’ve used Slipknot and Down’s systems. I’ve worked with Doors and Deftones. Use hip hop, and don’t even start. Tupac and me. Me and the ice cubes. Me and MC Ren and Spice1. Me and C-Bo. Yukmouth and me. Me and E-40. Wiz Khalifa and me. Em and I. Kendrick Lamar and I. It’s just forever.
I’m very decorative and I’m very happy with what I’ve done over the years. And what I’m still doing. I want to be called the one who doesn’t give people a perception of how many genres I once had. I just love music and provide the world with my life and my heart. So, I hope the world will come back. I want to understand it.
Listen to Tech N9ne’s 5816 Forest Album
2025 Summer Magazine XXL Magazine features interviews with Tech N9ne. The question also includes interviews with all 12 members and producers of the 2025 freshman class, as well as conversations with Key Glock, Larry June, Aminé, Monaleo, Fredo Bang, Nardo Bang, Nardo Bang, Molly Santana, X-Games sled champion Zeb Powell, and others, as well as the 2024 XXL freshman class, and an XXL XXL freshman class, as well as an in-depth freshman class. once.
